Revealing the People Defining Social Networks


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Social Networks are among the most powerful examples of socialized media. They create a dynamic ecosystem that incubates and nurtures relationships between people and the content they create and share.

As these communities permeate and reshape our lifestyle and how we communicate with one another, we’re involuntarily forcing advertisers and marketers to rapidly evolve how they vie for our attention.

Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Yelp, and other online communities transformed the regimen and practice of marketing “at” people into an opportunity to engage and interact with us – on our terms. It is the zeitgeist of socialized media and it’s manifesting into an obsession for branding, advertising, “viral,” marketing, and communications experts and professionals worldwide.

But, the people who define each network are reticent to the hollow attempts of faceless friending and in-network marketing. Many businesses are building social channels to broadcast messages in a one to many, top-down practice that not only prevents relationship building, but impedes any hope of cultivating communities and empowering brand ambassadors.

As marketers, it’s your responsibility to peel back the layers of each network to observe and eventually interact with the very people you wish to reach. Each network possesses a vibrant culture and ecosystem that is powered by context and connected by influential social graphs.

While nothing beats anthropological fieldwork and observation, let’s take a look at numbers behind the top social networks to get a better picture of network engagement and user demographics.

Remember, it’s how you interpret these numbers combined with an understanding of the real world needs and experiences of the people you’re attempting to engage that determines the success or failure of your social media program.

They are not demographics, they are not statistics, they are not avatars, nor are they waiting with baited breath for you to friend or market at them and their network friends. This data represents whole numbers and is not representative of the individuals that are looking for resources and guidance, and in turn, will help you participate as a community member.

So, how will you use this information to engage more effectively and genuinely?

Data: August 2009
All stats are from Google Ad Planner unless otherwise noted

30-day traffic, (U.S., Worldwide)

Unique Visitors – 110 M, 370 M
Reach – 45.6%, 28.8%
Page views – 52 B, 160 B
Total visits – 3.1 B, 8.7 B
Avg visits per visitor – 28,23
Avg time on site – 20:00, 23:20s

Gender
Male: 43%
Female: 57%

Age

0 – 17: 18%
18 – 24: 7%
25 – 34: 14%
35 – 44: 20%
45 – 54: 24%
55 – 64: 12%
65 or more: 4%

Household Income

$0 – $24,999: 7%
$25,000 – $49,999: 22%
$50,000 – $74,999: 36%
$75,000 – $99,999: 18%
100,000 – $149,999: 12%
$150,000 or More: 5%

Children in Household

Yes: 36%
No: 64%

Education

Less than HS diploma: 22%
High School: 14%
Some College: 36%
Bachelors Degree: 20%
Graduate Degree: 8%

30-day traffic, (U.S., Worldwide)

Unique Visitors – 1.2 M, 4.6 M
Reach – 0.5%, 0.4%
Page views – 31 M, 97 M
Total visits – 7.2M, 21 M
Avg visits per visitor – 6, 4.6
Avg time on site – 6:50, 6:50

Gender
Male: 48%
Female: 52%

Age

0 – 17: 3%
18 – 24: 7%
25 – 34: 20%
35 – 44: 36%
45 – 54: 16%
55 – 64: 14%
65 or more: 3%

Household Income

$0 – $24,999: 22%
$25,000 – $49,999: 29%
$50,000 – $74,999: 16%
$75,000 – $99,999: 20%
100,000 – $149,999: 8%
$150,000 or More: 5%

Children in Household

Yes: 11%
No: 89%

Education

Less than HS diploma: 4%
High School: 7%
Some College: 43%
Bachelors Degree: 32%
Graduate Degree: 14%

30-day traffic, (U.S., Worldwide)

Unique Visitors – 9 M, 23 M
Reach – 3.9%, 1.8%
Page views – 230 M, 410 M
Total visits – 53 M, 98 M
Avg visits per visitor – 5.9, 4.2
Avg time on site – 7:30, 6:50

Gender
Male: 64%
Female: 36%

Age

0 – 17: 11%
18 – 24: 9%
25 – 34: 18%
35 – 44: 29%
45 – 54: 18%
55 – 64: 10%
65 or more: 4%

Household Income

$0 – $24,999: 14%
$25,000 – $49,999: 28%
$50,000 – $74,999: 25%
$75,000 – $99,999: 20%
100,000 – $149,999: 10%
$150,000 or More: 4%

Children in Household

Yes: 22%
No: 78%

Education

Less than HS diploma: 15%
High School: 10%
Some College: 39%
Bachelors Degree: 27%
Graduate Degree: 9%

30-day traffic, (U.S., Worldwide)

Unique Visitors – 1.8 M, 4.6 M
Reach – 0.8%, 0.4%
Page views – 12 M, 28 M
Total visits – 3.9 M, 9 M
Avg visits per visitor – 2.1, 2
Avg time on site – 4:00, 4:10

Gender
Male: 41%
Female: 59%

Age

0 – 17: 8%
18 – 24: 5%
25 – 34: 14%
35 – 44: 25%
45 – 54: 30%
55 – 64: 16%
65 or more: 3%

Household Income

$0 – $24,999: 10%
$25,000 – $49,999: 23%
$50,000 – $74,999: 30%
$75,000 – $99,999: 20%
100,000 – $149,999: 12%
$150,000 or More: 6%

Children in Household

Yes: 19%
No: 81%

Education

Less than HS diploma: 9%
High School: 11%
Some College: 44%
Bachelors Degree: 24%
Graduate Degree: 13%

30-day traffic, (U.S., Worldwide)

Unique Visitors – 19 M, 73 M
Reach – 8.3%, 5.7%
Page views – 1 B, 3 B
Total visits – 94 M, 280 M
Avg visits per visitor – 4.9, 3.8
Avg time on site – 8:00, 9:10

Gender
Male: 45%
Female: 55%

Age

0 – 17: 13%
18 – 24: 9%
25 – 34: 19%
35 – 44: 25%
45 – 54: 21%
55 – 64: 11%
65 or more: 3%

Household Income

$0 – $24,999: 12%
$25,000 – $49,999: 27%
$50,000 – $74,999: 29%
$75,000 – $99,999: 18%
100,000 – $149,999: 10%
$150,000 or More: 4%

Children in Household

Yes: 28%
No: 72%

Education

Less than HS diploma: 16%
High School: 11%
Some College: 41%
Bachelors Degree: 23%
Graduate Degree: 9%

30-day traffic, (U.S., Worldwide)

Unique Visitors – 680K, 2.6 M
Reach – 0.3%, 0.2%
Page views – 16 M, 59 M
Total visits – 3.4 M, 12 M
Avg visits per visitor – 5.1, 4.6
Avg time on site – 8:00, 9:50

Gender
Male: 45%
Female: 55%

Age

0 – 17: 2%
18 – 24: 9%
25 – 34: 24%
35 – 44: 43%
45 – 54: 14%
55 – 64: 7%
65 or more: 2%

Household Income

$0 – $24,999: 30%
$25,000 – $49,999: 30%
$50,000 – $74,999: 15%
$75,000 – $99,999: 15%
100,000 – $149,999: 6%
$150,000 or More: 3%

Children in Household

Yes: 10%
No: 90%

Education

Less than HS diploma: 4%
High School: 4%
Some College: 52%
Bachelors Degree: 32%
Graduate Degree: 8%

30-day traffic, (U.S., Worldwide)

Unique Visitors – 14 M, 31 M
Reach – 6.1%, 2.4%
Page views – 800 M, 1.4 B
Total visits – 85 M, 160 M
Avg visits per visitor – 6, 5.1
Avg time on site – 9:40, 9:00

Gender
Male: 50%
Female: 50%

Age

0 – 17: 3%
18 – 24: 3%
25 – 34: 16%
35 – 44: 31%
45 – 54: 28%
55 – 64: 16%
65 or more: 4%

Household Income

$0 – $24,999: 11%
$25,000 – $49,999: 18%
$50,000 – $74,999: 23%
$75,000 – $99,999: 23%
100,000 – $149,999: 16%
$150,000 or More: 10%

Children in Household

Yes: 10%
No: 90%

Education

Less than HS diploma: 4%
High School: 9%
Some College: 34%
Bachelors Degree: 37%
Graduate Degree: 16%

30-day traffic, (U.S., Worldwide)

Unique Visitors – 570 K, 2.3 M
Reach – 0.2%, 0.2%
Page views – 7.4 M, 21 M
Total visits – 1.6 M, 4.6 M
Avg visits per visitor – 2.7, 2
Avg time on site – 5:40, 5:10

Gender
Male: 52%
Female: 48%

Age

0 – 17: 11%
18 – 24: 10%
25 – 34: 21%
35 – 44: 26%
45 – 54: 19%
55 – 64: 10%
65 or more: 2%

Household Income

$0 – $24,999: 17%
$25,000 – $49,999: 32%
$50,000 – $74,999: 24%
$75,000 – $99,999: 16%
100,000 – $149,999: 8%
$150,000 or More: 3%

Children in Household

Yes: 24%
No: 76%

Education

Less than HS diploma: 14%
High School: 10%
Some College: 48%
Bachelors Degree: 20%
Graduate Degree: 7%

30-day traffic, (U.S., Worldwide)

Unique Visitors – 61 M, 120 M
Reach – 26.1%, 9.1%
Page views – 32 B, 39 B
Total visits – 1.2 B, 1.5 B
Avg visits per visitor – 19, 13
Avg time on site – 23:20, 21:40

Gender
Male: 36%
Female: 64%

Age

0 – 17: 34%
18 – 24: 10%
25 – 34: 12%
35 – 44: 16%
45 – 54: 19%
55 – 64: 7%
65 or more: 2%

Household Income

$0 – $24,999: 7%
$25,000 – $49,999: 39%
$50,000 – $74,999: 35%
$75,000 – $99,999: 11%
100,000 – $149,999: 6%
$150,000 or More: 2%

Children in Household

Yes: 57%
No: 43%

Education

Less than HS diploma: 32%
High School: 12%
Some College: 42%
Bachelors Degree: 10%
Graduate Degree: 4%

30-day traffic, (U.S., Worldwide)

Unique Visitors – 5.6 M, 18 M
Reach – 2.4%, 1.4%
Page views – 250 M, 650 M
Total visits – 28 M, 74 M
Avg visits per visitor – 5, 4.1
Avg time on site – 11:40, 11:40

Gender
Male: 41%
Female: 59%

Age

0 – 17: 15%
18 – 24: 10%
25 – 34: 17%
35 – 44: 25%
45 – 54: 20%
55 – 64: 10%
65 or more: 3%

Household Income

$0 – $24,999: 13%
$25,000 – $49,999: 34%
$50,000 – $74,999: 28%
$75,000 – $99,999: 14%
100,000 – $149,999: 8%
$150,000 or More: 3%

Children in Household

Yes: 36%
No: 64%

Education

Less than HS diploma: 17%
High School: 10%
Some College: 48%
Bachelors Degree: 18%
Graduate Degree: 7%

30-day traffic, (U.S., Worldwide)

Unique Visitors – 120 K, 380 K
Reach – 0.1%, 0.0%
Page views – 1.8 M, 5.1 M
Total visits – 340 K, 920 K
Avg visits per visitor – 2.8, 2.4
Avg time on site – 7:00, 8:00

Gender
Male: 52%
Female: 48%

Age

0 – 17: 6%
18 – 24: 13%
25 – 34: 23%
35 – 44: 34%
45 – 54: 16%
55 – 64: 6%
65 or more: 2%

Household Income

$0 – $24,999: 21%
$25,000 – $49,999: 31%
$50,000 – $74,999: 23%
$75,000 – $99,999: 16%
100,000 – $149,999: 7%
$150,000 or More: 3%

Children in Household

Yes: 22%
No: 78%

Education

Less than HS diploma: 9%
High School: 10%
Some College: 46%
Bachelors Degree: 28%
Graduate Degree: 7%

30-day traffic, (U.S., Worldwide)

Unique Visitors – 4.2 M, 23 M
Reach – 1.8%, 1.8%
Page views – 32 M, 160 M
Total visits – 10 M, 51 M
Avg visits per visitor – 2.5, 2.2
Avg time on site – 4:50, 5:30

Gender
Male: 52%
Female: 48%

Age

0 – 17: 9%
18 – 24: 6%
25 – 34: 17%
35 – 44: 25%
45 – 54: 25%
55 – 64: 14%
65 or more: 3%

Household Income

$0 – $24,999: 13%
$25,000 – $49,999: 25%
$50,000 – $74,999: 27%
$75,000 – $99,999: 20%
100,000 – $149,999: 10%
$150,000 or More: 5%

Children in Household

Yes: 21%
No: 79%

Education

Less than HS diploma: 12%
High School: 11%
Some College: 40%
Bachelors Degree: 25%
Graduate Degree: 13%

30-day traffic, (U.S., Worldwide)

Unique Visitors – 24 M, 66 M
Reach – 10.1%, 5.1%
Page views – 2.1 B, 4B
Total visits – 270 M, 550 M
Avg visits per visitor – 11, 8.3
Avg time on site – 12:10, 11:40

Gender
Male: 43%
Female: 57%

Age

0 – 17: 11%
18 – 24: 8%
25 – 34: 16%
35 – 44: 29%
45 – 54: 20%
55 – 64: 11%
65 or more: 3%

Household Income

$0 – $24,999: 13%
$25,000 – $49,999: 30%
$50,000 – $74,999: 27%
$75,000 – $99,999: 16%
100,000 – $149,999: 10%
$150,000 or More: 4%

Children in Household

Yes: 28%
No: 72%

Education

Less than HS diploma: 12%
High School: 9%
Some College: 47%
Bachelors Degree: 24%
Graduate Degree: 8%

via Quantcast (estimated, for June 2009)

Via Compete.com for June 2009
Unique Monthly Visitors: 1.4 M
Total Visits: 1.8 M

Via Quantcast for June 2009
Gender
Male: 45%
Female: 55%

Education
No College: 45%
College: 42%
Grad. School: 13%

Children in Household
Yes: 59%
No: 41%

Household Income
$0 – $30,000: 20%
$30,000 – $60,000: 28%
$60,000 – $100,000: 29%
$100,000+: 23%

Age
13-17: 7%
18-34: 34%
35-49: 32%
50+: 26%

30-day traffic, (U.S., Worldwide)

Unique Visitors – 1.5 M, 4.6 M
Reach – 0.6%, 0.4%
Page views – 34 M, 73 M
Total visits – 6.1 M, 14 M
Avg visits per visitor – 4.1, 3.1
Avg time on site – 11:20, 9:50

Gender
Male: 34%
Female: 66%

Age

0 – 17: 12%
18 – 24: 15%
25 – 34: 22%
35 – 44: 26%
45 – 54: 15%
55 – 64: 8%
65 or more: 2%

Household Income

$0 – $24,999: 18%
$25,000 – $49,999: 35%
$50,000 – $74,999: 24%
$75,000 – $99,999: 13%
100,000 – $149,999: 7%
$150,000 or More: 2%

Children in Household

Yes: 34%
No: 66%

Education

Less than HS diploma: 16%
High School: 8%
Some College: 50%
Bachelors Degree: 19%
Graduate Degree: 6%

30-day traffic, (U.S., Worldwide)

Unique Visitors – 9.7 M, 11 M
Reach – 4.2%, 0.9%
Page views – 160 M, 160 M
Total visits – 33 M, 35 M
Avg visits per visitor – 3.4, 3.1
Avg time on site – 6:00, 5:30

Gender
Male: 43%
Female: 57%

Age

0 – 17: 6%
18 – 24: 5%
25 – 34: 17%
35 – 44: 27%
45 – 54: 27%
55 – 64: 15%
65 or more: 3%

Household Income

$0 – $24,999: 9%
$25,000 – $49,999: 18%
$50,000 – $74,999: 29%
$75,000 – $99,999: 19%
100,000 – $149,999: 16%
$150,000 or More: 8%

Children in Household

Yes: 15%
No: 85%

Education

Less than HS diploma: 8%
High School: 10%
Some College: 35%
Bachelors Degree: 32%
Graduate Degree: 14%

Via Compete.com for June 2009

Unique Monthly Visitors: 78 M
Total Visits: 459 M

Via Quantcast for June 2009

Gender
Male: 50%
Female: 50%

Education
No College: 48%
College: 39%
Grad. School: 13%

Children in Household
Yes: 43%
No: 57%

Household Income
$0 – $30,000: 20%
$30,000 – $60,000: 27%
$60,000 – $100,000: 27%
$100,000+: 27%

Age
13-17: 19%
18-34: 35%
35-49: 24%
50+: 19%

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  • Thank you for pulling all of this data together in one place. The labor challenge involved with listening and engaging with people in meaningful, appropriate ways is going to completely redefine the opportunity for marketing and communications professionals worldwide.

    I wonder how many people will be successful in making the transition vs. it being a different "DNA" that will thrive in the field...

    I also think that there is an enormous opportunity to build tools to make listening and engaging across all of these new communications channels more efficient.
  • Great to have all this data in one place! Interesting how the vast majority of networks skew female. Are men generally less social?
  • jakerosen
    Great having all these stats in one place. These general stats help determine the top-line information that you need to know, but doesn't reveal the culture of these technologies. I just hope people don't see that Ning or another platform is low on the traffic scale and immediately dismiss it as bad for their goals.
  • Thank you for such a clear and rich display of data.
    Excellent material to study, digest and... act accordingly.
    3 quick reactions/sensations:
    a) interested in the gender gap on social networks
    b) surprised to see that the franges 35-44 and 45-54 are stronger than younger franges on most social networks, thus demythifying tyhat social networks are for the so called Internet Genmeration
    c) wished to see the lap from May to October 2009: these last 6 months, particularly in the institutons and organizations sphere, the increase has been dramatic
    Thank you again, I'll tweet it
    Conxa Rodà
    @innova2
  • dkdanielson
    Great information. It actually puts numbers to something that I've been assuming - that Facebook is the social network that best mirrors my company's target market's demographics. Seems we're focusing our efforts in the right area. Thanks for sharing. Consider this page bookmarked for future reference.
  • Great data! I apologize if I missed it, but do you have a consolidated number for % of American adult Internet users who have a profile on an online social network site?

    Thanks in advance!
  • Extremely useful insight on the demographics of social network usage! Take a look- http://j.mp/3sKFvo
  • thx for pulling all the data together in one article!
  • mattarney
    Thank you for sharing such a wonderful input. This will help me in my future venture to marketing.

    New Life Marketing: http://mattarney.com
  • Brian, echoing what others have said, this is a terrific resource. Great to have all of this information compiled in one place. I hope, too, that people are struck by what you said BEFORE the stats, or more to the point, HOW you said what you said. The legions of people represented in these statistics aren't sitting around waiting for us (or our clients) to market *AT* them. They're participating because they want to be a part of something, to come away having gained something of value. I hope that message gets through. Thanks for getting all of this together!
  • As you say, nothing beats anthropological fieldwork and observation, the demographics and volume of numbers allows to put things in perspective with offline media comparisons, which is a reasoning that can be misleading as @ahawkinson mentions, the real insight is about redefining opportunities - the numbers just confirm what we've believed for many years now. Great effort of yours to share.
  • Brian - This is great data. When you look at the most widely known to the general population - Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn - more than 60% are over 35. Look forward to sharing that data with my community members and skeptics.

    @mwallcomm
  • Hi Brian!
    Loves your dedication to social media!
    This post was extremely informative and interesting.

    I'm working on my social media marketing book at the moment and your work is confirming my work.
    I have been watching one of your seminars and as mentioned above I really admire your dedication!

    Sincerely,
    Trond - author @ Moneyonline.net
  • 3dBloke
    It may be non-PC to say, but I wonder how much of the female activity is selling "services" like teeth whitening and the like (certainly have blocked a lot of such followers on Twitter).
  • Thank you so much for taking the time to place all of this data in one spot! I will definitely be using this information to "spread the word" to those who still believe social media is a fad.
  • marketyourstartup
    Thank you for sharing these interesting Social Media stats! They will help me to convince my clients to think outside the box and not just focus on Facebook, MySpace and Twitter to promote their business! Thanks again!

    Maria
    www.MarketYourStartup.com
  • This is great. I always wanted to see all of the demographics for the various social media sites. Thanks for the post.
  • Echoing the earlier comments, thanks for summarizing this revealing data, Brian. The breakdowns by age, gender and income are intriguing. I was not aware of the wealth of information that Google Ad Planner provides. Useful, but a tad scary.
  • Muy interesantes las estadístcias de @briansolis sobre las redes sociales. Sobre todo por que el grupo mas grande practicamente en todas es el de 35 a 44 años y en la mayoría el 2o grupo en importancia es el de 45 a 54
  • Alex
    Great work!
  • SocialSplash
    invaluable!!

    power to the girls......
  • Facebook, Twitter, Delicious, Flickr

    are the sites that I visit most... ascending order...
  • New social media stats. Fascinating.
  • kellylux
    Thank you for this great information. As a student of social media as well as a consumerf, I find the demographics surrounding 'children in household', especially for LinkedIn, to be somewhat curious considering that 60% of users are 35-54.
  • lscott
    All the data in one place is fantastic! Thanks!
  • Excellent info and insight. I do find the numbers in regards to how many users have children, strange. It seems very low to me, especially when with some of these sites the majority of users are in the 35 and above age bands.

    Also I'm based in the UK and work with UK companies. So I've put together a very similar list inspired from the one here, of UK social networking usage. It can be found on my blog, if any UK based visitors are interested. EEven though it still contains the low numbers of users with children.
  • Clemence Ko
    This is a very intensive post. Thanks for pulling all of this invaluable data all into one place. The best thing is you included data from US and worldwide as well. That is very nice of you. Normally only US data would be shown.
  • Name
    Great data, thanks for all your work. Re the female dominance in many of these -- why any surprise? Women are more relationship oriented than men.
  • Great Data. Thank you for the insights. I was wondering if the female dominance was also a trend in Switzerland. I can say: No. Check out the data I collected for the Swiss Market with Google Ad Planner. http://www.slideshare.net/sdufaux/defining-soci...
  • in top 100 websites on alexa 70% are social networks!you'll get the ideea! :)
  • LikeSoup
    Great information. How to put it to good use? Meditate over it and wake up with the answer.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtTv2d5oXuM
  • osolar24
    Wow, i haven't heard of some of these social sites before.....it is interesting how all this data has been collected to show the demographic breakdown.....great job.
  • Really really amazing. Nice to see the huge information at one place. :)
  • liho
    Like all information supposedly in the 'public domain', it would be more valuable if we knew paid for its collection and its collation.
    Nothing is done for nothing and nothing is simply done for its own sake
  • I took Solis' data and generated some charts that allowed for a visual analysis of the distributions. While nothing unexpected really came up, I thought it was illuminating: http://ow.ly/15UWhx.
  • Thank you! I also ran charts, but just ran out of time to include them. Thank you for sharing. Good stuff!
  • phil wagner
    Hi! Anybody know what happened to Paige Craig,the darling of the LA Tek Set, Serial entrepreneur angel investor, paintball enthusiast and chums w/ Lotay Yang Black Circle/lalawag crowd.? Maybe somebody should look for him.
    Based on his profitable association w/the Lincoln Group and his quieter and even sneakier partner, Christian Bailey,
    Just proves there's no such thing as "bad" publicity if you've got no bid/no results/no oversight DOD propaganda contracts. Hey, Compared to the insurance lobby and Wall Street, these guys just took advantage of a good thing.
    Americans don't want to hear the real news. Just quack/crackpot kid in balloon stories.And Dancing w/the Sluts. We are NOT "Smarter than a 5th Grader."LOL. Fo' Sho'.
  • Nice Jobs. I've shared this with my community at http://santiagomerea.com. You'll get the trackback I guess.
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ABOUT ME

Brian Solis is globally recognized as one of most prominent thought leaders in new media. A digital analyst, sociologist, and futurist, Solis has influenced the effects of emerging media on the convergence of marketing, communications, and publishing. He is principal of FutureWorks, an award-winning New Media agency in Silicon Valley, and has led interactive and social programs for Fortune 500 companies, notable celebrities, and Web 2.0 startups. BrianSolis.com is ranked among the top of world's leading business and marketing online resources.

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